Recovering deleted emails/folders in Entourage

[CvT123]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: pop

Hi
This afternoon I found that all my subfolders in my Inbox have gone. I have no idea what has happened but I have lost several years worth of emails. I did delete some emails and I may have accidentally deleted the root of the sub folders... Is there any way to recover them? I do not have any backup (ie Time Machine), so please do not suggest (or castigate - i feel stupid enough as it is). I did try to rebuild my database and the backup Entourage created is 1.5gb larger, which would imply that the files are still in the deleted folder, waiting to be over-written. Is there anything I can use to recover these? I have searched, I have tried to open it Entourage Database with BBEdit. NOthing. Please please please help. I do not have Exchange, or Imap -- it is just a POP account!

 

[Cody Williams]

Great! If you go into your webmail and locate the messages that you are
missing and drag them to the Inbox that is on your webmail, Entourage SHOULD
receive them.

 

[Diane Ross]

This afternoon I found that all my subfolders in my Inbox have gone. I have no
idea what has happened but I have lost several years worth of emails. I did
delete some emails and I may have accidentally deleted the root of the sub
folders... Is there any way to recover them? I do not have any backup (ie Time
Machine), so please do not suggest (or castigate - i feel stupid enough as it
is). I did try to rebuild my database and the backup Entourage created is
1.5gb larger, which would imply that the files are still in the deleted
folder, waiting to be over-written. Is there anything I can use to recover
these? I have searched, I have tried to open it Entourage Database with
BBEdit. NOthing. Please please please help. I do not have Exchange, or Imap --
it is just a POP account!

It's very likely that they folders are still in the Deleted Items folder.
You have to go an extra step to delete folders.

You probably also turned off notification or you would have been warned. You
can reset that in Preferences --> Notifications --> Reset confirmation
dialogs.

When Entourage rebuilds your Identity it creates a backup. Simply Switch
Identities. Under Entourage in the Menu bar select Switch Identity and
choose the one named backup xxx. However since the rebuild is larger you
could have a bad rebuild. I'm hoping the folders are in the Deleted Items
folder.

It's advised not to let Time Machine backup your Entourage database. If the
database is copied while being used, the backup could be corrupt. You can
set the Time Machine to exclude the Microsoft User Data folder and create an
iCal event to copy it over at night while not in use so you get one backup
daily in Time Machine.

Alternative method to use Entourage and Time Machine (does a once a day or
whatever time period you select)

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/alternative_method_to_use_entourage_
and_time_machine.html>

Entourage and Time Machine (creates chronological backup of Identity can be
used by both Tiger and Leopard)

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2008/01/entourage_and_time_machine.html>

 

[Diane Ross]

Great! If you go into your webmail and locate the messages that you are
missing and drag them to the Inbox that is on your webmail, Entourage SHOULD
receive them.

This would do no good unless the user has selected to leave mail on the
server.

 

[CvT123]

Hi
@Cody - thank you but unfortunately, the emails are not on my webmail, so that will not work. Thank you.

@Diane. I think your diagnosis is correct. I have tried to rebuild my database and they do not appear. I believe i have emptied my Deleted Folder, which means, if my understanding is correct, is that they are still in my database folder but not visible through entourage. Is there anyway around this. (i.e. to be clear, I accidentally deleted a folder and emptied the folder btw I was simultaneously downloading a lot of emails from another account and entourage was not responsive which is why this happened - it wasnt me being a TOTAL idiot. just an idiot). Any help please!!...

 

[Diane Ross]

@Diane. I think your diagnosis is correct. I have tried to rebuild my database
and they do not appear. I believe i have emptied my Deleted Folder, which
means, if my understanding is correct, is that they are still in my database
folder but not visible through entourage. Is there anyway around this. (i.e.
to be clear, I accidentally deleted a folder and emptied the folder btw I was
simultaneously downloading a lot of emails from another account and entourage
was not responsive which is why this happened - it wasnt me being a TOTAL
idiot. just an idiot). Any help please!!...

Did you try switching Identity to see if the copy rebuild will open. It
might still have the Deleted Items folder with the missing folders.

You can empty messages without deleting the folders, BUT it should have
asked you if you wanted to delete the folders. Have you looked? There should
be a triangle to the side of the trash can to show there are subfolders.

Once messages are deleted they are gone unless you hire one of those recover
services that costs hundreds of dollars. Use this as a learning opportunity
and start a good backup strategy.

 

[CvT123]

diane - i have tried all of what you said. Rebuild, etc. etc. Unfortunately the trash had been emptied. I know that the emails are in the Database file but just cannot be seen through Entourage. Annoyingly. Do you know of any recovery services that specialises in Entourage?

 

[Diane Ross]

diane - i have tried all of what you said. Rebuild, etc. etc. Unfortunately
the trash had been emptied. I know that the emails are in the Database file
but just cannot be seen through Entourage. Annoyingly. Do you know of any
recovery services that specialises in Entourage?

No. There are outfits like Drive Savers, but that requires you to send them
your hd. I would stop any further use of your computer if you are going to
do this. You might have already overwritten the data.

It's possible you or your setup has not allowed you to recover. You can
contact me off list to discuss recovery.

<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/per/2008/12/contact-me.html>